Smiles

A European couple, tourists and Disneyland bound, boarded our RTD express bus the other day with no money smaller than a $10 bill. Tickets to their transfer point are $1.20 each. And, as you know, bus drivers require exact change.

Bewildered, the young man walked the length of the bus, money in hand, applying the limited English that he had learned, but no one could change a $10 bill. The excursion was about to end before it began.

Then an old woman, so recently arrived from the Orient that she also had mastered only a handful of English words, shuffled forward with her hand full of coins. “Take them,” she commanded. Only then did others on the bus awaken to the crisis. Contributions quickly covered the cost of the tickets.

A few minutes later, as the old woman prepared to leave the bus, she paused as she passed the young couple from Europe, bowed, shook their hands and smiled. They also smiled.